Seemingly following in the footsteps of Detroit, Baltimore city administrators have given customers 10 days to pay their overdue water bills or face loss of water service. Residents and commercial tenants owe the city $40 million in unpaid bills.

Baltimore officials are trying to cut back on the problem of
accounts going unpaid for months or even years. The Baltimore Sun
estimates that a third of the bills due
(about $15 million) are owed by 370 commercial tenants.
Government offices and nonprofits owe close to $10 million.

"We want to make sure all of our citizens pay their fair
share," Rudy Chow, director of Baltimore’s Public Works,
told the Sun. "When we don't collect the necessary revenues,
it causes us to raise water rates as a result. The citizens who
are paying their bills are, in effect, subsidizing those who are
not paying."

The city is seeking payment from those who owe more than $250 or
more, dating back at least half a year. Water rates have
increased over the past three years by a total of 42 percent,
with another 11 percent increase due to take effect this July,
according Baltimore Brew.

The problem of non-payment is also not entirely the fault of
customers unable or unwilling to pay. The Baltimore Sun found out
the city’s Department of Public Works had chronic problems with
billing, which included sending customers inflated statements.
The department halted billing to improve accuracy, but this
action caused further delays.

Public Works made the water cut-off announcement on March 25,
with little notice and no public hearings on the matter. Just
under a week later, on March 31, several dozen protesters rallied
outside City Hall to call on officials to reverse their decision.
They want the City Council to investigate why customers are late
paying.

“We’re in a state of shock and outrage,” Sharon Black,
who helped organize the protest, told the Sun. “People aren’t
paying their water bills because they can’t afford to.”

Baltimore City Council President Bernard C. ‘Jack’ Young
said the city offers help to seniors and others in financial
difficulties, but added the action is necessary to head off
“future water rate increases.”

A Food and Water Watch researcher, Mary Grant, told Think Progress the payment plans are too
small to make a difference.

“There is low-income assistance, but it’s only a one-time
payment of $161,” said Grant.

Matt Hill, an attorney for the Public Justice Center, called the
threatened shutoff “inequitable and unconscionable,” and
is concerned tenants will go without water because landlords
don’t pay their bills.

Of the more than 600,000 residents in Baltimore, Maryland, 63
percent are black and 31 percent are white, according to US
Census figures from 2009-2013. Twenty-four percent live below the
federal poverty level.

Last year, Detroit residents fought a similar decision by city
administrators who threatened to cut off water to customers with
overdue bills. The decision sparked criticism from around the
country and the world, with some United Nations experts saying
denying water to people could be a violation of human rights.
Almost 40 percent of Detroit’s population lives below the poverty
line, according to the AP.